It’s Week 3 in our Reflections Devotional, Citizen of Heaven– are you beginning to see yourself differently yet? Why is it SO important to look to the Word of God to tell us who we are?
I struggled with this question for many years, but then God began to show me that any other view of myself was mere opinion, subject to change and not the truth. In order for us to walk as Jesus walked, we must believe who we are in Him.
Your beliefs will always dictate your actions. When I believed that I was alone, unlovable, abandoned and unworthy, guess how I behaved? That’s right! Alone, unlovable, abandoned, and unworthy. And let me tell you, it was miserable and unfruitful. That’s NOT God’s portion for us!
If we want to step into our true identity, putting on the “new woman” in Christ, then we MUST change the way we see ourselves.
We can only do that by the power of the Word of God, there are no shortcuts to this. No amount of positive thinking or actions will truly transform us. Only His Word has the ability to change us from the inside out.
Can I testify for a few moments?
He has:
- taken my loneliness and filled me with His Presence- alone no more.
- taken rejection and replaced it with belonging, telling me that no matter who may not have ‘wanted me” in the past, He wants me.
- He has taken my unworthiness and made me worthy by the mark of His Name.
- Most of all, He has loved every unlovable part of me with a passion that can can only be described as miraculous.
Hear me- He really is THAT GOOD!
There’s only one catch to receiving such wonderfulness: I had to let go of my thinking and receive His Words to transform the way I think.
If you are willing to do that one thing, lay down all the wrong thoughts and replace them with His Word, then you will have the same and more! That’s why I am writing these devotionals.
Sometimes, we need a little help with concentrated focus, so that we can experience the working of the Word. Each week, we look at one focus scripture and we study it, pray it, decide to believe it, and begin to walk in our true identity in Him.
When we do this, the Word begins to work in our lives, transforming our minds and hearts– because the Word is living and active, we can trust that God will do what He has said He will do!
Here’s Week Three: Citizen of Heaven
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;” Philippians 3:20
If you’ve been saved for some time now, you’ve likely heard it quoted from the bible that you may be in the world, but you are not of it. This comes from John 15:19, where Jesus says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.“
The moment you gave your life to Christ, you were made a citizen of heaven, no longer a citizen of this world.
Everything that we do and say from the moment of salvation on is to partake of and represent the kingdom to which we belong. This is a hard concept for some people to understand, however, if Jesus said it, then it must be true.
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary gives us a good definition of the word citizen:
CITIZEN, noun. The native of a city, or an inhabitant who enjoys the freedom and privileges of the city in which he resides (bold italics mine); the freeman of a city, as distinguished from a foreigner, or one not entitled to its franchises.
“An inhabitant who enjoys the freedom and privileges of the city in which he resides”
Don’t forget to download your free scripture cards for this study!
Philippians 3:20 tells us outright that we are CITIZENS of heaven.
We are meant to enjoy the freedom and privileges of the ‘city’ in which we will one day reside, but we also have freedoms and privileges that are extended to us even now, here on earth!
And more importantly, we are to represent the place that we are now from to the world with an invitation to become citizens too! What an honor!
From the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the word citizen:
Strong’s G4175- politeuma, noun. πολίτευμα políteuma, pol-it’-yoo-mah; from G4176; a community, i.e. (abstractly) citizenship (figuratively):—conversation.
Our citizenship in Christ has also has given us an entirely new community.
Beloved, you not only have believers with which you share your citizenship with here on earth, but there is a heavenly host, a community in heaven that is far greater than you could ever imagine. A community that will never expire or fade away!
I am humbled to be accepted into such a community, to be a citizen through my faith in Christ and to be enjoying the privileges and freedoms that are readily made available to me by the King of that community. Because of this, I continue to tell others of what He offers if only they will believe.
Did you miss the first devotional in this series??? You can find it HERE.
Pray with me today:
Father, thank you for making me a citizen of heaven, a member of the greatest community there ever will be. I praise You for all the freedoms and privileges I now have because of Christ- freedom from sin and darkness, Love and acceptance forevermore! Help me to walk worthy of the kingdom I now call home. Help me to represent You in this world as I should while I await the coming of my Savior, Jesus Christ. May my life bring You glory always. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Dive Deeper
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Words to pay attention to: ambassadors, appeal, implore, reconciled
“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:10-12)
Words to pay attention to: People of God, mercy, foreigners, exiles, abstain, war, soul, good lives, pagans, good deeds
Oh my friend, so far we’ve peered into scripture and we have seen that we are A Child of God, An Heir of God and a Citizen of God– Just those three titles make me want to jump and shout His Praise! But there is SO MUCH MORE that we are in Him! I’ll see you next week for Reflections Devotional Week 4!
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